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[niobexrev]

[OFFTOPIC]Beloved Movie Composer - RIP

[King Mob]

Michael Kamen was a musical genius; how he ever managed to get Metallica to perform with a complete orchestra in a stadium in front of all their fans I'll never know.

[niobexrev]

[King Mob]

[joebrent]

Unfortunately, most people have never heard his best stuff. He hints at it a little with the "American Symphony" he did for Mr. Holland's Opus, but even that is a little schmaltzy compared to his real stuff.

He was originally known as a ballet composer, and the works he has written for dance are among the best of the 20th Century, after those of Stravinsky and Copeland. But he was a really hip guy, and was interested in pop music, so he started doing film scores and arranging for rock bands, including his amazing orchestral arrangements for Pink Floyd's The Wall.

He kind of hit a lull when he figured out the Goldsmith/Horner formula, which is what you hear in Robin Hood and the Disney Stuff, but his score for the Lethal Weapon movies is justifiably famous, recalling Bernard Herrman's work in Taxi Driver, and his score for Brazil is amazing, I wish he had kept up the collaboration with Gilliam.

Anyways, sad day. I performed under him in an orchestra that was backing up Eric Clapton, and he was very nice and a good conductor as well. He told everyone a great joke I'll share with you:

What song do they sing on the Phillip Glass tour bus?

99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer on the wall...

[RayJNT2]

Gah! He was so cool (not to mention quite the musical genius).

I'm definitely going to miss his work.

[WingLess]

he did the score for Band of Brothers didnt he? Superb music...

[XtRaVa]

Band of Brothers...amazing programme, loved that series.

[Xforce]

This is really very sad to hear, he was truely one of the best.

Being the metalhead that I am, I will mostly remember him for the excellent work with Queensryche on the "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Empire" albums (e.g. Silent Lucidity), as well as the S&M session and the stuff with/for Metallica.

I didn't know he did so many soundtracks I also loved before I read this thread.

He'll be missed.

Peace,
Mac

[joebrent]

_SO_ cool to hear there's other film music buffs on this forum. Film music is my little pet obsession, I think writing for film is one of the most demanding fields in all of music. You have to know how to compose in all styles, pop, jazz, symphonic, etc. You have to be pretty computer literate, because of all the editing software and studio hardware you have to know how to use. Plus, you have to function like another actor, heightening the emotion on the screen without being obtrusive in any way. And if you think it's hard to write music, try writing 32.8 seconds of music, with hits that have to line up perfectly with what's going on on screen. That's tough.

Unless you're John Williams or Danny Elfman, and directors edit their films around your music. But not all of us are John Williams or Danny Elfman.

BTW if anyone's in NYC, they're doing a Sergio Leone festival on Houston Street the next two weekends. I'm going because I love Ennio Morricone, but I also love a good spaghetti western.

[bakntime]

[joebrent]

Saw the Sergio Leone movie "Duck You Sucker" last night, with James Coburn and Rod Steiger. Sweet movie, don't see the chopped up version retitled "A Fistful of Dynamite".

Morricone's score is even more bizarre than normal. There's a great scene in which Steiger frees a bunch of policial prisoners being held in the vaults of a bank, and as he blasts open the doors one by one, Morricone builds his cue with harpsichords, banjos, Moog synthesizers, mandolins, etc - never the instrument you'd think of hearing in an average film score. And then suddenly, they start quoting "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". It's deliriously fun, until people start blowing up.